Telegram to G. I. Petrovsky2

May 9 (22), 1914.

The news is overwhelming3. We are waiting for details. We don't understand anything. Explain it as overwork. In any case, don't get discouraged. Explained by personal crisis.

Fund 2, op. 1, d. 23823, fol. 2 - autograph.

Telegram to V.L. Burtsev

Not earlier than May 10 (23), 19144

116. Glaciere. Paris. Bourzeff1*.

Improbable. Existent indications crise personnelle2*. Attendons3*informations.

Fond 2, op. 1, d. 25777 - autograph.

Translation

116. Glacier. Paris. To Burtsev

Unbelievable. There are signs of a personal crisis. We're waiting for reports.

Telegram to G.E. Zinoviev

May 10 (23), 19144

They telegraph from4* Paris that Malin[ovsky] is "accused of provocation".

Verrez. L'affaire bien urgent5*.

Fond 2, op. 1, d. 27133 - autograph.

Telegram to A.E. Badaev

May 10 or 11 (23 or 24), 1914.

To Badaev. Spalernaya 44D. St. Petersburg.

Russian newspapers telegraph Burtsev: Malinovsky is accused [of] provocation. Burtsev has heard nothing. One deputy5, having gathered information from seven Poles, is to come. Don't be nervous, slander is possible.

Choose a chairman6, declare: the Muscovites will choose a worthy one.

Fund 2, op. 1, d. 27131 - autograph.

1* Further crossed out: Kousnetzo[ff] (Kuznetsov - French).

2* Further crossed out: Questionnez.

3* Further crossed out: pepeesow.

4* Originally V.I.Lenin wrote and then crossed out: "Comprenons rien" ("We understand nothing" - French).

5* See. The matter becomes urgent (French).

1Documents 59-68, 70, 71, 76 on the case of R.V. Malinovsky, member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, Chairman of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Faction of the Fourth State Duma, which arose in connection with the spreading suspicions about his collaboration with the government security organs. May 8 (21), 1914. Malinovsky unexpectedly for the faction and the Central Committee of the RSDLP resigned his deputy powers and left St. Petersburg the next day. Reports immediately appeared in the St. Petersburg newspapers accusing him of provocation. These accusations were fully confirmed only after the February Revolution of 1917 as a result of the investigation of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission of the Provisional Government, which heard the testimony of the heads of the security organs of tsarist Russia, figures of Russian Social Democracy who knew Malinovsky, including A.E. Badaev, N.I. Bukharin, I.P. Goldenberg, G.E. Zinoviev, N.K. Krupskaya, V.I. Lenin, V.P. Nogin, E.F. Rozmirovich, and others. (See: The Case of the Provocateur Malinovsky. Moscow, 1992, pp. 31-136). At the same time it turned out that Malinovsky's departure from the Duma was initiated by the Police Department, which feared that the scandal of exposing the secret agent (rumors compromising Malinovsky had penetrated the Duma) would cause more moral and political damage to the government than the loss of the information supplied (see: Rosenthal I.S. Provocateur Roman Malinovsky: Fate and Time. Moscow, 1996, pp. 145-147).

In 1914. Malinovsky managed to mislead the leadership of the Bolshevik Party. He voluntarily submitted himself to the judgment of the Foreign Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP and asked to investigate the charges of provocation brought against him. An investigative commission consisting of Ya.S. Ganetsky - chairman, Lenin and Zinoviev, which sat in Poronin from May 15 (28) to July 11 (24), 1914, failed to solve his crime. The Central Committee of the RSDLP stated in its resolution that Malinovsky, having left a responsible party post, had placed himself outside the party, but at the same time the Central Committee found no grounds to suspect him of political dishonesty (see doc. 76, note 2). The following main reasons for this failure of the Bolshevik party investigation can be named: the insufficiency of direct, objective evidence presented by the witnesses at the commission, as well as by Menshevik and other newspapers; Malinovsky's great services to the party, his active work in the Duma, which seemed to the members of the commission too great a price to pay for the introduction of a provocateur; the art with which Malinovsky played his game, adapted himself to the situation and the people around him, his self-control and skillfully played sincerity at the investigation; the acute political and political dishonesty of Malinovsky; and the fact that he was not able to be honest. (For the minutes of the commission, see: Voprosy Historii, 1996, No. 9-12).

At the end of the commission's work, Malinovsky sneaked to Warsaw, where he was mobilized into the Russian army. He took part in combat operations, and in November 1914 was contused, traumatized, and taken into German captivity. Relying on Russian and foreign newspaper reports of his death, Lenin and Zinoviev wrote an obituary "Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky" and published it in the newspaper "Social-Democrat" No. 33 of October 19 (November 1), 1914, but in the next issue (No. 34 of November 22 (December 5), 1914) a note "Malinovsky is alive" was printed. From the POW camp Malinovsky corresponded with Lenin, Zinoviev, and the Committee of the Foreign Organization of the RSDLP (see docs. 80, 81, 89, 95). Malinovsky returned to Petrograd with another batch of prisoners of war on October 22, 1918 and surrendered to the authorities. He was brought before the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and after a brief trial, he was shot on the night of November 5-6, 1918.

2Lenin wrote the telegram at the end of the second page of his article "Concerning the resignation of the mandate of R. V. Malinovsky" (see doc. 59).

3It is obviously referring to the telegram of G.I.Petrovsky to G.E.Zinoviev, sent on May 8 (21), 1914 at 14:10: "Malinovsky resigned without warning, refused to give explanations, went abroad. Petrovsky." (RCCHIDNI, f. 17, op. 1, d. 1474). The telegram was received at 8:10 a.m. the next day, which is the date of Lenin's reply.

4Dated by a telegram from A.I.Lobov, sent from Paris on May 10 (23), 1914 at 4 hours 49 minutes to the address: [Byaly Dunayets]. To Ulyanov. Villa Theresa Skupien (received the same day at 10 o'clock 5 minutes): "Russian newspapers telegraph to Burtsev - Malinovsky has resigned his deputy powers, has gone into hiding, and is accused of provocation. Burtsev has heard nothing. He asks for detailed instructions on what to do. Telegraph him immediately. Alexei" (RCCHIDNI, f. 2, op. 5, d. 386).

5Which deputy was given the instruction, it was not possible to establish.

612 (May 25), 1914, the newspaper Pravda reported: "Comrade Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky, a deputy of the Ekaterinoslav workers, was elected chairman of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Federation."